


Unexpected Developments

by SunnyShark



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Rin is a woman now, Sesshomaru is a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunnyShark/pseuds/SunnyShark
Summary: Sesshomaru thought Rin would stay a little girl forever. He was very, very wrong.
Relationships: Rin/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha)
Comments: 66
Kudos: 179





	1. Chapter 1

A lesser being might have felt something akin to guilt for having stayed apart from their ward for a few seasons… Or was it years? Time was so fleeting for a demon that it eventually just became a blur. Either way, it had been a while. Sesshomaru was not one to feel regrets or remorse, but the thought of a little human girl with a gap-toothed grin and untamed hair missing him had prompted him to pick up a few more elaborate gifts on his return journey to the village where she resided.

He’d entrusted her care and further upbringing to the ancient miko, his half-brother, and family. There was also the demon slayer woman, the monk, and their brood. Last he’d seen his charge, he had explained that she needed to be among her kind and that his lifestyle was unsuitable for having her along. Her bottom lip had wobbled, but it wasn’t until he was in flight away from the village that he had smelled the salt of her tears.

Through the years he had made infrequent visits to drop off gifts and be informed on the state of her care. From what he’d been told, Rin had made many friends and became a valuable asset to her home. She was skilled in womanly arts like sewing, cooking, medicine, and other feminine pursuits while also having excelled in more masculine endeavors like fishing, hunting, and it had amused him to hear she’d taken part in a brawl or two.

As the village shaped on the horizon, Sesshomaru felt his spirits lighten the way they always did before a visit. Being a demon lord was demanding and solemn work. Rin had brought light into his world in the time they’d traveled together and, though he’d never admit it, he had missed the little girl.

Alighting outside of the miko’s hut, he placed the parcels he carried in a pile beside him and waited. Little Rin always seemed to sense when he was around and it wouldn’t be long before she would scurry through the front door and dance around his legs as she welcomed him.

The door to the hut started to slide open and he braced himself for the sight of his ward to be barefoot and grubby-faced as usual. An unfamiliar woman stepped through the portal and beamed up at him, her face lovely and her eyes wide.

A jolt went through Sesshomaru’s chest as he beheld the stunning young woman. She was beautiful even by demon standards and he was taken aback by the sight. She walked toward him and he was transfixed by the sway of her shapely hips, the way her bright flowery yukata clung to her curves, the fall of her long ebony hair to her waist. His eyes roamed up to her face and met bright honey-colored ones framed by long sooty lashes. The bridge of her nose was dusted with a sprinkling of freckles and her lips were plump and petal pink.

This stranger before him arrested his attention in a way no other ever had. His heart thumped heavily in the cage of his ribs and the air he breathed felt thinner. Who was this mystery woman?

The woman smiled and something like panic washed over as he recognized the particularly guileless way the girl grinned. She was unabashed in her joy, her straight white teeth on full display as she beamed at him. But it was impossible! The vision in front of him was of a woman grown, not a young child.

“Sesshomaru-sama!” She cried happily, stumbling over her own long legs as she made her way to his side. Her voice was lilting and songlike, a balm compared to the usual screech of human female voices. She stood before him, fidgeting in place and eyeing the parcels with interest. Her height was a head below his own now.

The smile the girl wore shrank and she stepped back, suddenly nervous and unsure. “Have I displeased you somehow, Sesshomaru-sama?” She asked, only vaguely sensing just how deeply unsettled he was.

“Rin,” He stated. It was all he could bear to say. An acknowledgment, a greeting, and a curse.

She nodded and her grin returned. “I know I look very different. Kagome-san says that I grew like a weed!” She shuffled her feet and wrung her hands. “Do I look very strange to you now?” Rin asked with a self-conscious nibble of her bottom lip.

It took every ounce of breeding he possessed not to ogle her from head to toe and appraise and take inventory of the changes she’d undergone. His little Rin was a woman. A beautiful and bright woman that he no longer knew.

His eyes went to the pile of presents he’d brought her and a modicum of shame filled him when he realized that most of the gifts he’d brought were for a child. Rather than try and explain, he just gestured to the things and stated “I’ve brought offerings.”

Rin squealed with delight and bounced over to unwrap each parcel. Toys and sweets made up the majority and she set them aside in favor of the sumptuous fabrics he’d brought for her to make clothing from. “These will make beautiful kimonos!” She cried, rubbing her cheek against a panel of silk. “Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!”

Seeing her discard the juvenile gifts made him feel embarrassed by his own ignorance. Of course, Rin would grow. How was it that he’d expected her to remain a child forever? He quickly covered for his own mistake by uttering “The toys and sweets are for the village children.”

She nodded and gathered up the fabrics in her arms, carrying them back to her hut and then coming back out for the rest of it. “I will distribute your offerings fairly among the children,” She told him in a self-important tone that filled him with affection for her.

Kaede hobbled out of the hut, leaning heavily on a walking stick. She hailed Sesshomaru with a lazy wave and wobbled over to him. A knowing gleam in her unpatched eye told him she was aware of his blunder and was enjoying his discomfort immensely.

“I know you left Rin in my care… But I didn’t feel it right to be the one to approve of any of her suitors when she’s your ward in truth,” The old witch told him, looking at Rin. The woman in question was counting the goodies in front of her and likely mentally assigning what would go to who.

“She’s had a great many callers after her. Even demons have come to these parts to see for themselves the beauty we’ve had to hide away. Your brother had his hands full chasing them off when they attempted abduction over seduction.”

The old crone laughed until it turned into a cough, no doubt enjoying the play of emotions in Sesshomaru’s eyes and the way his fists continued to clench and unclench. “Our little Rin has become a big problem. Worst of all is that she’s still convinced you were coming back to whisk her away with you again. She won’t entertain any notion of settling down. All she wants is to be back at your side.”

His heart clenched and a swell of pride inflated his chest. Rin was still his. Exactly what she was to him now was being newly evaluated.

She looked up and saw him watching her. Standing, she brushed off her kimono and walked to his side, beaming up at him. Her scent reached him and his body clenched. She still had the familiar scent of Rin, but now it was mixed with the heady perfume of womanhood.

This new Rin was a stranger to him. Their memories were the same, but time had played its part to create a divide between them. Sesshomaru desperately wondered over the unexpected development. She was an intriguing mystery. A puzzle to solve.

He didn’t know this Rin, but he intended to. And once he did he would decide where to go from there.


	2. Chapter 2

The last time Rin had seen Sesshomaru had been five years ago. She had just experienced her first menses and her body had begun to change. Suddenly she was no longer a reed shooting up from the shore. Now she was an hourglass with bits that curved and swooped and bounced. She hated the development of her body because in her mind it was the reason why he had left.

Sesshomaru had cared for little girl Rin who danced around his knees and played with toys. He was fond of the child with messy hair and bare feet. He’d left her the moment she’d started becoming a woman and it had hurt to know there wasn’t anything she could do to go back to who she was.

She’d tried to keep speaking like a child at first. “Rin misses Sesshomaru-sama. Rin wants to go look for him,” She would say, only to be chastised and reminded that he’d left her with the purpose that she grow up. When that didn’t work, she took to playing with the children in the village, acting like a hellion. But the children sensed she was no longer one of them and were awkward with her when she tried to initiate play.

From there she tried every little rebellion she could think of to stay the child her lord loved, instead of the woman he’d rejected. She wore child yukatas, didn’t comb her hair, refused to wear sandals. She fought time but it didn’t fight fairly.

One day she’d looked at herself in the mirror and no longer knew who looked back. She was a woman grown trying desperately to still be a child. But Sesshomaru-sama had intended she become an adult. What if she became the best adult she could possibly be? Would it please him that she’d lived to his expectations? Would he see her as a worthy companion if she acted the part of a woman?

Rin embraced her studies and took to them like a fish to water. She excelled at anything she put her mind to and while she was highly unconventional for someone female, she was skilled. On top of learning womanly endeavors, she sought to learn anything she deemed would be useful to her lord. She became a force to be reckoned with as she absorbed any knowledge or discipline she pursued like a sponge.

Her friends watched as she evolved from blossoming teenager to a woman in full bloom. And what a bloom she had become. Word spread of her beauty through the lands and many sought to see if they could be the one to tame the girl raised by a demon lord. She was famous and also infamous due to her rejection of every suitor.

From merchants to demon hunters, human lords to demon ones, Rin was coveted like a rare jewel to be added to a collection of finery. She was fortunate to have so many powerful allies to protect her when those that desired her would not take to her dismissal.

Inuyasha, the half-demon brother of her lord, had especially taken to the role of protector and happily encouraged her independence. He’d grown fond of her and saw her like a sister, a part of his family that he would go to the ends of the earth to protect. All he wanted was to see her happy, though it chafed knowing her happiness was in his absent brother’s hands.

Many had tried to rid Rin of the notion that she wait for Sesshomaru. He had left her to become human. He wanted her to find her own life. Settle down and start a family. They all had an idea of what the demon lord required of her, but she wouldn’t hear any of it.

She wasn’t going to do anything until she heard it straight from him. It was true that he had left her, told her to grow among her kind, but he had never mentioned marriage. A tiny seed in her heart took root imagining that he had bigger plans for her. Plans that would mean he wanted her at his side.

And so Rin kept her virtue. She closed her heart to romantic love. She rejected suitors and kept warm at night thinking of her lord. Kaede suggested she become a priestess but Rin was only devout to Sesshomaru-sama.

Finally, at long last, he’d returned.

In her excitement, she’d forgotten time had altered her into someone unrecognizable. She’d stumbled her way to Sesshomaru’s side and looked up at him with all the yearning and joy in her heart and he’d regarded her as one would a stranger.

Her heart had fractured in her chest as he’d said her name as an oath. He didn’t like this Rin. He didn’t want her. He was refusing her.

Then he’d shifted subtly and waved at the parcels he’d brought her. She’d long abandoned any love for toys and sweets were a luxury but the fabrics were welcome. As she’d carried the cloth he’d mentioned how the baubles were for the village children and she’d fought off puzzlement. All his gifts had only ever been for her before.

She felt jealous of his kindness to anyone but her, taking the toys and sweets and looking over them with a covetous eye even as she knew she would obey him and distribute each offering to a corresponding child. They would need to know how gracious her lord was to children and apparently only children.

Once they grew up he would turn them away and forget them.

She hid her pain and played her part as she pretended all was well. Her lord seemed caught up in some inner turmoil and accepted her pretense without question. Another dagger to the heart when in the past he always knew when she played him false.

When night fell, Rin felt dread that he would leave again. What if it meant he would never return? Or he did but by then she was a crone like Kaede? She wrung her hands in front of her as she fretted over saying goodbye.

He found her fetching water and carrying it back to Kaede’s hut. Without a word, he glided to her side and kept pace with her. She could feel his eyes roaming over her and there was an unfamiliar tension in the air.

“Sesshomaru-sama, you never answered if you were displeased with me when I asked you before,” She said, unable to hold her tongue no matter how badly she wished to.

“It is not displeasure,” He told her in an even tone.

She stopped walking and set down her water buckets in the dirt by her bare feet. “Then what is it?”

A single brow rose as he took her in while she rested her fists on her hips and looked up at him as if openly daring him to lie to her.

“It is uncertainty. When one is a demon, time becomes insignificant. However, it appears to be very significant to humans,” He explained without bothering with details.

Rin muddled over his words, piecing them together to form a full picture. “Sesshomaru-sama thought my aging would be slower?”

“Years passed by in a blink and the lifespan of a human is but a cycle of seasons to my many ages.”

She tried not to let him see how his flippancy hurt her. He spoke as if she were nothing but a notch on his endless timeline. Rin always felt a sense of being insignificant next to him, but she’d never felt that he saw her as such.

“You’re my whole life. I’m just your Springtime,” She muttered sadly.

“The difference between human and demon is vast and not easily bridged,” Sesshomaru told her, his eyes holding a hint of sadness.

“I thought we had a bridge until you burned it.”

She turned on her heel and ran, unable to staunch the flow of tears as she scrambled into her hut. She slammed the door behind her and dove onto her futon, crawling under the covers and curling into a ball.

Her dreams were shattered and her heart was a bloody lump under Sesshomaru’s elegant foot.

As she cried she stubbornly decided there would be no goodbye. If they never said it to each other then maybe it would feel like he hadn’t left her again. She could lie and pretend, the way she had been for years as she fooled herself into thinking her lord would ever want her.

Rin fell asleep when she ran out of tears and woke feeling empty. She went about her morning ablutions as if being lead like a puppet on strings. When it was time to leave the hut to start the morning chores she deliberated on just going back to her bed, but duty was a virtue she would not abandon.

As the door slid open and she braced herself for the pain to crush what left of her into dust, she was shocked to see the two water buckets she’d left waiting next to the door. Her eyes searched for him, her heart unfolding and daring to yearn.

Sesshomaru alighted in front of her, having floated down from his post on the roof. “I thought you’d left,” She sniffled.

He shifted his weight subtly, a sign of discomfort only she would understand, and crossed his arms over his chest. “You will not run from my side again, Rin,” He scolded.

She lowered her eyes and her shoulders slumped, feeling ashamed of her emotional display.

“However, I will accept that a disservice has been done to you by my absence. Inuyasha has told me much of what you’ve endured and accomplished and I must say that I am proud of you, though as my ward I expected nothing less.”

He waited to speak again until she looked back up at him. Inclining his head in a tiny bow, she thought she would swoon from the sheer elation that suffused her from his praise.

“We have much to discuss. I will hear you speak of the life you have lived while I was away attending my duties. I would like to know who you have become, and in turn, you will find that I remain unchanged.”

She smiled her trademark smile and started walking, knowing he would follow and listen.

He didn’t know her now, but he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After many requests, I've decided to extend this fic into multiple chapters. Thank you all for your eager encouragement and I hope you enjoy what I whip up! Kudo and comment if you enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Remember to kudo and comment if you enjoyed it!


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